Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[Folly's place]

New pictures of the goose family here; still maybe 26 goslings! Mary

 

[Opa]

Some times the simplest things can remind us of how precious and wonderful life is. My sons are all doing well, Hope is happy taking care of her granddaughters, Granny is healthy, my old farmer friend is happy, my boat modification project is going better than anticipated, the hens are laying eggs that won't fit in a jumbo egg carton, and Hope picked this bouquet from our yard.

Life truly is wonderful.

 

[taprock]

Very true Opa!

The past couple days have been beautiful here. I'm still covered in bug bites but don't care at this point because I want to be out enjoying the nice days.

On the animal end of things, my sons Hedgehog has developed a tumor that I'm guessing will be the end of him but I will let the vet tell him because he is still hoping it can get better. My current batch of chicks have also developed cocidiosis. They are in the same tractor the other batch was so I cleaned it, bleached it and had DH move it to a new location before this hatch went in. I have also been feeding medicated feed and still there were bloody droppings this morning. So I medicated their water. Thankfully no one is acting sick.

Today work involves the humane society coming to do a kids program with four legged assistants. Hopefully fun and not too chaotic.

 

[gladahmae]

Here's my "broody" hen out free ranging (she's one of 3 that will hop the fence and wander around). *sigh*. And I was going to give her eggs to hatch today.

I have a garden question. I mulched my tomato plants with straw (and the walking rows with grass clippings) to keep the weeds and the grass that wants to grow on its own down in the new garden. The grass clippings are doing great. But today I'm seeing that the straw (there were seed heads in the bales) is growing. And in one case the roots of the new straw grass is growing right through the landscape fabric that I put down. This particular garden completely got away from me last year and I'm trying to stay on top of things this year since I'm not working. So I'm concerned that in addition to battling the grass that grows naturally, I will now have to battle the straw that I put in the garden. I'm just glad I hadn't put it into the better of the 2 gardens weed-wise yet or in pretty sure I would be muttering a lot of words that are not fit for small ears.

In other news my parsnips are sprouting. Yay!

 

[snowflake]

Some times the simplest things can remind us of how precious and wonderful life is. My sons are all doing well, Hope is happy taking care of her granddaughters, Granny is healthy, my old farmer friend is happy, my boat modification project is going better than anticipated, the hens are laying eggs that won't fit in a jumbo egg carton, and Hope picked this bouquet from our yard.

Life truly is wonderful.

Life is indeed good, love the bouquet!!!

We don't add supplemental light, however we do add Calf Manna to their feed during the cold months. Our hens consistently lay straight thru the winter. We also add fresh greens as much as possible. No scientific evidence, only personal experience but the increase protein from the Calf Manna seems to allow them the extra energy they need to stay warm and lay.

interesting, the calfmanna may decrease their molt also,. (so they don't go bald)

I'm wondering if anyone else is from the Wyoming MI area?

we are in Belding, but I am sure there are some here W. of GR

It is not just the length of day, but if the day is becoming shorter or longer - so the combination of shorter days with decreasing day length triggers molting, and short days will cause many birds to stop laying until day length increases again. But our birds are far from their wild roots, and many breeds have been selected for laying for longer throughout the year.

I let my birds stop laying and molt in the fall, which gives them a chance to grow a good feather coat, build up fat and pigment stores, and be dewormed before winter arrives. Since I use Valbazen and have to throw the eggs away for 20 days (they get 2 doses 10 days apart), it also decreases wasted eggs. Then at the end of December a light goes in the coop that gives them around 12 hours of light a day, enough so that they lay well but not maximally. They stay in good shape all winter, and I get enough eggs and have some to sell as well all winter.

do you worm more then once a yr.? some say you should do it twice a yr. but I hate throwing eggs away,and winter is great cause there are so few eggs being layed.

 

[LisaLouHoo]

Any chicks avilable in southwestern Michigan? Looking for ameracaunas.... Only a couple pullets for backyard coop.

Would you possibly be interested in an 8-week-old pair of swedish flower hens. If so, pm me.

 

[snowflake]

when using straw it is best to let the bail sit out all summer the first yr, to get all those seeds sprouted then they will die off in the winter and you can use the hay with out to much trouble, I think if you just keep turning it, it should help the seed growth to die off.

hope this rain helps get my parsnips growing. any one have experience with giant pumpkins? I am trying some this yr. but the vines are small and full if flowers. shouldn't the vines be getting full before flowering?

 

[1muttsfan]

Just once a year Snowflake.

If it is good quality straw the seed heads should be wheat or oats, which are easily weeded out, and don't spread by the roots like grasses will - just pull it up and leave it on the ground under the plants. If it was hay that is a different story, it is full of weed and grass seeds of all kind and not very good for mulching unless you run it through a hot mulch pile first.

Those flowers are lovely, Opa

 

[BigHope888]

Just curious if everyone names your chickens? I've had mine about 2 months now, I think I have their personalities figured out. Having a tough time coming up with names. My daughter named my barred rock, Oreo, of course. (Daughter is 24 yrs old, lol) I have 1 red cross who is very unsure, not mean or anything, just likes to hang back and watch everyone else. Suggestions?

Oh boy. Yes, and for the record I am the dork that names her car. Chickens are Torrey, Abbey, Hazel, Penny (HennyPenny), Sunshine, and Taco. I almost went with an "O" sound theme, I was thinking Taco, Loco, Poco, Coco. I've heard "Rockstar" themed names including Eggy Pop, Paul McCluckney, etc. Do you plan to eat them? If so, I'd go with meal themes...Sweet and Sour, Alfredo, Fricassee, etc. Snowflake had some cute meal names, and someone else said Crispy.

Just getting started with chickens up near the Straits of Mackinac, and wanted to say hi. I've only got three girls in the backyard, but the kids and I can't wait to get some eggs!

Hello, newcomer!

makes you feel good to be loved

my DH has been scraping tar like glue off our basement floor for several months. only in the laundry room (thankfully) the previous owners glued down particle board then put cheep press on tiles over it. of course every thing was full of mold and in bad shape and had to be removed. what fun!!

wow that stinks, at least it wasn't the house though

as for naming birds. I have some that are and some that are not.
fried,,cordon blue, grilled, or roasted or rosemary & thyme might be good names.

We too are renovating. BF has the bathroom down to studs. He very often emerges from his work area hollering about the "Idiots that lived here did x, y, z, crab crab."

Someone I know here in the UP had nearly their entire flock slaughtered by what is likely a dog as they free ranged. The kill pattern is that classic play with the squeaky flappy thing until it is dead, then catch the next one. None of the birds were eaten. One duck survied, but is injured. The vet even agrees from the spacing of the teeth marks on the surviving bird that a dog is the culprit. I hope she can catch the dog, if it comes back for more 'fun', then send the owner the bill for getting all those hens to point of lay. They were pets as well as egg layers.

That's a heartbreaker. Though I admit I did chuckle at your description of a dog's perspective of the slaughter.

My chickens will be 18 weeks on Monday. I'm going to get their nest boxes opened up this weekend and do a little bit of modification to them (they lack a piece of wood in the front to keep the nest in and the bedding out.)

Should I spring for the dummy eggs at TSC/FFH to encourage laying in the nest? I feel like they are kind of a 1 time use thing.

Quote:

you could put some golf balls in the nest instead of buying the fake eggs

My plan is golf balls.

Two years ago I was in southwest Missouri visiting my son and it happened to be when he was baling hay. My son was baling, my granddaughter was driving the truck pulling the hay wagon, while I ran along side tossing the bales up on the wagon. After what seemed like hours I got on the wagon and stacked. A neighboring family was helping with the haying and their ten year old daughter was stacking bales as high as I. It was a little humiliating to watch a little girl toss bales easier than I. When I mentioned that she should take it easy she told me she was doing fine but thought I needed to take a break. Sadly she wasn't wrong. Age is a humbling experience.

My cuckoo Marans hen who is trying to crow has now started to mount the other hens.
I wonder if this is in response to the recent Supreme Court ruling.

2x

We're still waiting for our first egg! I know it'll be soon, maybe even this week. A couple of the girls have squatted for us on more than one occasion. They're 18 weeks old now. I'm itching to use that emojicon of the yellow smiley running to and fro, that's what i'll look like in real life. Also, Hazel has moved to the top of the pecking order, and she's even pecked me a couple times, hard. Hasn't drawn blood but I don't want her to! I picked her up and held her down on the ground twice now for a few seconds. (Yes, gently.) That's the thing to do, right?

 

[Living the Simple Life]

Quote:
We don't add supplemental light, however we do add Calf Manna to their feed during the cold months. Our hens consistently lay straight thru the winter. We also add fresh greens as much as possible. No scientific evidence, only personal experience but the increase protein from the Calf Manna seems to allow them the extra energy they need to stay warm and lay.
Even the older ones?
When do they molt?

Not sure protein would do the trick as I thought it was length of dark(length of day) that effected the pineal gland that controls hormones to release ova?

Even the older ones. We have never had a "full-blown" molt. They lose the feathers in their saddle area and then regrow them. The oldest is now 3 years and is getting less consistent in her laying recently and randomly misses a day, but we have an over-achiever who is apparently trying to make up for her and about every fourth day we get 5 eggs from 4 chickens.